The Conundrum of Immigration Beds

The current administration expanded the scope of detention and imprisonment of immigrants, but the resulting problems of no place to actually detain them didn't become such a desperate conundrum until the last few years. Instead of being detained in federal prisons and designated detention centers, immigrants are now being shipped to whatever location is available. The potential for human rights abuses is monumental.


Initially the Office of the Federal Detention Trustee was supposed to keep their fingers on the pulse of where federal detainees were relocated after arrest. The war against terrorism put a major crimp in the process and rather than centralize detentions, things became highly disorganized and diffuse. Then another wrinkle came along, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.


Homeland Security is responsible for rounding up illegal immigrants. Their zeal for the task has dramatically increased the demand for beds, a demand the administration is working of meeting. Finding beds actually means jail space. And if you spend any time looking at the federal budget you'll know there's been major funding set aside to handle the increased demand. In other words all the law enforcement agencies have new money to burn so long as they lock up immigrants. Note: the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (2004) gave the nod to 40,000 jail spaces to hold immigrants for immigration violations.


Shockingly in 2008 there are now 32,000 beds on demand and accessible by Immigration and Customs Enforcement the arm of Homeland Security that detains and removes immigrants. There are plans for 1,000 more to become available in 2009. If you're wondering how much this is costing the taxpayers, wonder no more. Records show Immigration and Customs Enforcement is shelling out about $1.7 billion for detention alone. Enforcement and removal comes in at $700 million.


Homeland Security isn't the only enforcement agency with beds/jail spaces at its disposal. The US Marshals Service can lay its hands on beds/jail spaces when it needs to. The Service processes roughly 180,000 detainees a year and over 30 percent of them are in the slammer due to immigration charges.


Interesting conundrum when the nation depends on influxes of immigrants to boost its housing market and put it back on the map and yet those very same immigrants are being arrested and removed on immigration charges. It's a Catch-22 situation and well worth discussing with a qualified immigration lawyer.

Sally Odell - Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.